1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to protection devices and methods used with buildings and, more particularly, to devices and methods for discouraging the spread of a wild fire to the roof of a building.
2. Description of the Related Art
The spread of wild fires to residential areas is a constant threat in many locations, particularly during dry seasons. Often such wild fires cause damage to many homes and buildings which are burned either from direct contact with flames or from embers spewed from the fire that fall on the roofs of homes and buildings and, sometimes from a long distance from the fire. Thus, such fires threaten destruction to large areas crowded with residential homes and other buildings.
A variety of water systems for controlling fires which frequently occur on a dwelling or a building have been employed in the past. Such systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,263,543, 3,653,444, 3,754,600, and 6,360,968; all of which disclose elaborate sprinkler systems which may be installed on a roof top. Roof top systems are often a good tool for fighting a fire which has already started consuming the building, and may also be effective in preventing the fire from spreading to the building in the first place. They may also stop the fire from spreading to neighboring buildings.
Roof top systems are bulky and take time to install on a roof. When the spread of a wild fire is imminent, there may not be enough time to order, deliver, and install a sprinkler system on the roof tops of buildings and single homes not already so equipped.
When a wild fire threatens a certain area, firefighters have little option but to directly fight the fire itself, or take the necessary actions to address the threat of the fire spreading. A lack of manpower and adequate resources in many instances results in devastation of homes and buildings without any type of fire prevention or fire suppression equipment.
Therefore, there is a long standing need to provide a fire prevention system that is inexpensive and can be quickly and easily delivered and installed in most buildings.
It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a fire fighting device which can be quickly and easily implemented by mounting the device on the roof of a building.
Another object of the present invention to provide a device which uses a regular garden hose to spray water on the roof of a building.
Yet another object of the present to provide a lightweight and inexpensive device for preventing fire from spreading to a building.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an easily storable and transportable device for dousing a roof top with water to prevent ignition from burning embers generated by a near or distant ground fire.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a device easily positionable at a selected location on a roof to discharge a spray of water onto the roof.
A yet further object of the present invention is to provide an inexpensive method for soaking a roof with water to prevent ignition from flames and burning embers of an adjacent fire.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a method for quickly mounting a device on a roof for discharging a spray of water onto the roof.
These and other objects of the present invention will become more apparent to those skilled in the art as the description of the present invention proceeds.